Wow, you could have dropped me with a feather – this last year was not at ALL what I had been expecting!

But let me back up a little first. I was reading a post on FaceBook – yes, shocking I know – where my friend Daneen was talking about the twelve stones the Israelites gathered as they were finally, FINALLY crossing into the promised land. Her point? At the end of every year, we should gather our ‘stones’. Our testimonies of the year to see what God has brought us through in the past year. This is our testimony! This is God’s story through us!

Naturally, it made me start reflecting on this past year. It started off with a bang – me writing in my own little naive way that I was going to write blogs twice a week and I was going to write a chapter of my book every so often. HA! But God had other plans once again. Thank God His plans are always perfect and mine are definitely not.

You see, somewhere around the second week of January, I once again broke a heel. This one took me down for over seven months. And then a bunch of ups and downs with my husband’s job move… and then my wonderful little momma almost died… and now, our household is on day nine of this wretched sickness that’s going around.

Yet, somewhere in the middle of all of this, God is. For some reason, to benefit me, He has allowed all of these things to happen. Why do I know it’s to benefit me? Because God said that ALL things work together for good. To who? To those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

So I knuckled down and pressed in. I started doing what I believe God has asked me to do – start a neighborhood women’s Bible study. Hard to do when the world seems to be pushing in and pressing down with full force.

And I have learned and grown in ways I don’t think would be possible unless I was forced to stay down. Psalm 23 says, “He MAKES me lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restores my soul.”.

So that brings us to the beginning of this year, 2017. Am I going to immaturely write down what I WILL do this next year? I think not. Why you ask? Because of these verses:

So, for this next year, I will do whatever God tells me. As we’ve discussed before, God only shows me one day at a time. That way He knows I can’t try and help Him and mess it all up. I will be obedient. I purpose it in my heart to be so.

And I can share with you and anyone who will listen about all the things God has brought me through. All the things He has taught me. All the ways you too can be dependent on God’s care and grace and healing.

So with that, I bid you a Happy New Year!

*** Side Note: I found this great idea on Pinterest about how to keep up with all that God does for you this next year. Here’s the link…